BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Lowered to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Key Points

• BBVA Banco Frances has been downgraded from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating by Zacks Research, reflecting a negative shift in analyst sentiment.
• The bank's stock has been trading at around $9.23, significantly lower than its 1-year high of $25.01, indicating a challenging performance in the market.
• BBVA Banco Frances reported earnings per share of $0.24 for the last quarter, missing expectations by $0.13, alongside a revenue miss compared to analysts' estimates.

Zacks Research lowered shares of BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report published on Monday, September 8th,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on BBAR. Itau BBA Securities started coverage on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $18.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $22.50.

BBVA Banco Frances Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:BBAR traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $9.06. 382,809 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 797,499. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.27. BBVA Banco Frances has a fifty-two week low of $8.80 and a fifty-two week high of $25.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a PE ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.30.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The bank reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.13). BBVA Banco Frances had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 6.65%.The company had revenue of $524.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $727.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BBVA Banco Frances Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.0221 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. BBVA Banco Frances's payout ratio is presently 19.40%.

Institutional Trading of BBVA Banco Frances

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BBAR. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 199.9% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 2,381 shares of the bank's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 27.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,303 shares of the bank's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the first quarter worth about $211,000. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the first quarter worth about $224,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 123.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,301 shares of the bank's stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 8,450 shares in the last quarter.

BBVA Banco Frances Company Profile

Banco BBVA Argentina SA provides various banking products and services to individuals and companies in Argentina. The company provides retail banking products and services, such as checking and savings accounts, time deposits, credit cards financing, consumer and pledge loans, mortgages, insurance, and investment products to individuals; and small and medium-sized companies products and services, including financing products, factoring, checking accounts, time deposits, transactional and payroll services, insurance, and investment products to private-sector companies.